People have said this before, but I'm curious about what works better with it? I have a PB Whelpling and by the time I have to Storm the second pet is already next to dead. The third pet gets hit with a dragon-racial storm and takes two tail swipes to go down.

Arcane Winds are already up because Jahan uses AS too. That being said, I'd do some playing with racial… but Mana Surge's RNG on the top of the crit bonus can backfire and end in an overkill. Poor birds anyway!

This doesn't do what you suggested. This forces mana surge to go first. It also many mana surge weaker. You also need to remember that Jahan, the first enemy pet, casts Arcane Storm in the first round and that if Arcane Storm is cast with arcane winds active it does additional damage.

After 100 battles on this build and a new owner of a lvl 3 menagerie, I found it better to cast 3 then 2 about 60% of the time due to the crits and dragon kin dmg. Samm gets smashed this way. If you don't win with those cast 3 again to end the fight.